Martin John Docherty-Hughes (born 21 January 1971) is a

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

politician. He was previously the Member of Parliament (MP) for

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire (; , ) is one of the 32 Local government in Scotland, local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the north-west of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. ...

from

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

until his defeat in 2024. He has also served as SNP Defence Spokesperson from 2023 to 2024.

Early life and education

Docherty-Hughes was raised by his parents in

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

, and began working from the age of 16. He studied at the Glasgow College of Food Technology, now

City of Glasgow College The City of Glasgow College is a further and higher education college in the city of Glasgow. It was founded in 2010 when the Central College, Glasgow Metropolitan College, and the Glasgow College of Nautical Studies merged. It is the largest ...

, graduating with an HND in Business Administration in 1997. He subsequently obtained a degree in Politics from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

and attended the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; ) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and design. These are all awa ...

for his master's degree. On finishing his studies Martin returned to Clydebank and worked for a decade for the West Dunbartonshire Community and Volunteering Services (WDCVS).

Political career

He joined the Scottish National Party in 1991, and was elected the following year as Scotland's youngest councillor to the-then Clydebank District Council in May 1992, at the age of 21, until 31 March 1996. He was elected to the third seat of the Anderston/City ward of the

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for Glasgow, Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was former ...

on 3 May 2012 polling 1,057 votes and 19.9% and exceeding the quota on the second count, becoming a

Bailie A bailie or baillie is a civic officer in the local government of Scotland. The position arose in the burghs, where bailies formerly held a post similar to that of an alderman or magistrate (see bailiff). Baillies appointed the high constables ...

until 14 May 2015. In February 2015, he was selected as the SNP candidate for the

constituency in the 2015 UK general election. He defeated incumbent Gemma Doyle, winning 30,198 votes and 59% of the vote. As a consequence of his election to Parliament, he stepped down from his position on Glasgow City Council. He changed his name from Docherty to Docherty-Hughes after marrying his husband John Hughes in January 2016. The descendant of a woman from Ballinglen,

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

and a man from Stralongford in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, he is also a relative of Ian McGarvey and has many relatives scattered around

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. He was appointed as Chief Whip following the 2022 SNP Westminster Group Leadership contest by new leader,

Stephen Flynn Stephen Mark Flynn (born 13 October 1988) is a Scottish politician who has served as the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) in the House of Commons since December 2022. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen South si ...

. Docherty-Hughes was unseated at the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, losing his seat to

Douglas McAllister Douglas James McAllister (born 1973) is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament ( MP) for West Dunbartonshire since July 2024. Education and legal career McAllister graduated from the University of Gla ...

Scottish Labour Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party (UK), Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and Unionism in the United Kingdom, unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Sco ...

References

External links

Personal website

Profile
on SNP website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Docherty-Hughes, Martin 1971 births Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Alumni of the University of Essex Councillors in Glasgow Scottish gay politicians LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies People from Clydebank Place of birth missing (living people) Scottish National Party councillors Scottish National Party MPs UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–2024 Scottish people of Irish descent Councillors in West Dunbartonshire 21st-century Scottish LGBTQ people